Glyphosate is one of the most dangerous chemicals sprayed on our food crops every year. It’s commonly found in Roundup, a weedkiller that’s used liberally on GMO food crops. (You’ve probably even used Roundup in your own vegetable garden to keep the weeds at bay.)
And sure, the EPA would have you believe there is a safe level of glyphosate that causes “no risks of concern to human health.” They pretty much said the same thing about DDT, asbestos, lead and PCBs. And we all know the horror stories that emerged from the use of these products!
The fact is, safe levels of glyphosate exposure in humans have never even been tested. In reality, no amount of glyphosate in the human body is safe.
Among the various health concerns with this chemical, the glyphosate found in Roundup can:
- Wreak havoc with your gut microbiome. It kills off the “good bacteria” you need and allows pathogens to thrive.
- Interrupt how your body uses important minerals like iron, cobalt, and manganese.
- Interfere with the creation of amino acids your body needs.
- Contribute to the formation of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma – a dangerous form of cancer.
- Damage DNA and act as an endocrine (hormone) disruptor in human cells.
- Even low levels of exposure can cause liver and kidney damage
It also disrupts your body’s ability to detoxify itself. This means it can cause the toxic load in your body to build up over time. Eventually, the accumulation of toxins may reach a tipping point. That’s when disease sets in.
☠️Reduce Your Body’s Toxic Burden
Not long ago, four American families took part in a very revealing experiment. The families were from Atlanta, Baltimore, Minneapolis and Oakland, and each included two or three children.
For the first five days, the families ate their regular diets, which consisted of non-organic foods. These are the types of food that the average American eats.
For the next six days, the families continued to eat their regular diets with only one, single exception: all of the foods they ate were certified organic. Now, during this process the members of each family provided urine samples every day. The researchers used these samples to test for the presence of glyphosate and a variety of pesticides.
The results were absolutely stunning!
The biggest reveal was that glyphosate levels began dropping quickly once the families switched to an all-organic diet. And after six days, levels of glyphosate (and its metabolite aminomethyl phosphonic acid) dropped by more than 70%.
Not only did the study find glyphosate levels reduced, but an earlier phase of the research found that levels of other chemicals fell by somewhere around 60% and 90%. This includes several neurotoxic pesticide chemicals such as chlorpyrifos, clothianidin and malathion.
This shows what a huge difference eating organic can have on your body’s toxic burden!
🌱Keeping Your Body Clear of Pesticides
If you’re serious about avoiding chemical-laden foods, your best bet is to stick with safe, all-natural foods that are certified organic. This includes naturally raised meat products such as grass-fed beef, pastured poultry and wild-caught fish.
You really want to watch out for foods that are processed. They’re the worst. More than 75% of processed foods contain crop ingredients that were grown using liberal amounts or Roundup.
Glyphosate is also a pre-harvest drying agent for certain food crops, like oats, wheat and barley. So your breakfast cereals and other grain-based products are likely to contain a lot of it.
As far as your fruits and veggies are concerned, at minimum I recommend sticking with guidelines produced by the Environmental Working Group (EWG).
Each year this group analyzes the amount of pesticide residue on the fruits and vegetables you buy at the supermarket. Then they release a report called “The Dirty Dozen™.” It’s a list of commercial produce that contain the highest levels of pesticide residue and should ALWAYS be purchased organic.
But there are some fruits and veggies EWG says is safe to buy commercially grown. They call them the “Clean Fifteen™” and they are least likely to contain pesticide residue. This means you can safely purchase non-organic versions as long as you wash them prior to eating.
SOURCES:
Fagan J, Bohlen L, Patton S, Klein K. Organic diet intervention significantly reduces urinary glyphosate levels in U.S. children and adults. Environ Res. 2020 Oct;189:109898.
Hyland C, Bradman A, Gerona R, Patton S, Zakharevich I, Gunier RB, Klein K. Organic diet intervention significantly reduces urinary pesticide levels in U.S. children and adults. Environ Res. 2019 Apr;171:568-575.
Samsel A, Seneff S. Glyphosate, pathways to modern diseases II: Celiac sprue and gluten intolerance. Interdiscip Toxicol. 2013 Dec;6(4):159-84.
Ganson RJ, Jensen RA. The essential role of cobalt in the inhibition of the cytosolic isozyme of 3-deoxy-D-arabino-heptulosonate-7-phosphate synthase from Nicotiana silvestris by glyphosate. Arch Biochem Biophys. 1988 Jan;260(1):85-93.
Vivancos PD, Driscoll SP, Bulman CA, Ying L, Emami K, Treumann A, Mauve C, Noctor G, Foyer CH. Perturbations of amino acid metabolism associated with glyphosate-dependent inhibition of shikimic acid metabolism affect cellular redox homeostasis and alter the abundance of proteins involved in photosynthesis and photorespiration. Plant Physiol. 2011 Sep;157(1):256-68.
Zhang L, Rana I, Shaffer RM, Taioli E, Sheppard L. Exposure to glyphosate-based herbicides and risk for non-Hodgkin lymphoma: A meta-analysis and supporting evidence. Mutat Res Rev Mutat Res. 2019 Jul-Sep;781:186-206.
Gasnier C, Dumont C, Benachour N, Clair E, Chagnon MC, Séralini GE. Glyphosate-based herbicides are toxic and endocrine disruptors in human cell lines. Toxicology. 2009 Aug 21;262(3):184-91.
Mesnage R, Arno M, Costanzo M, Malatesta M, Séralini GE, Antoniou MN. Transcriptome profile analysis reflects rat liver and kidney damage following chronic ultra-low dose Roundup exposure. Environ Health. 2015 Aug 25;14:70. Erratum in: Environ Health. 2017 Mar 23;16(1):28.
Fagan J, Bohlen L, Patton S, Klein K. Organic diet intervention significantly reduces urinary glyphosate levels in U.S. children and adults. Environ Res. 2020 Oct;189:109898.
